ATJ Asian Tax Journal

Asian Tax Journal

Print ISSN 1738-3323 Online ISSN 2733-9270

A Study on the Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation

  • Tae Beom Jeong Seoul Women's University
  • Jae Whan Park Chung-Ang University
  • Hee Woo Park The Catholic University of Korea

Asian Tax Journal Vol. 9 No. 3 (2008), pp. 313-342

Abstract

This study intends to re-evaluate the necessity of mandatory audit firm rotation based on the survey data collected from audit firm partners and public companies. Findings from the survey are as follows : After the mandatory audit firm rotation system was enforced in Korea, auditor changes in public companies tend to be concentrated to Big 4 accounting firms. It means that this new system may make the audit services provided to public companies be limited to small number of audit firms. And many respondents believe that the system would finally weaken the accounting firms' financial status because of increased initial year audit costs, additional marketing costs and low audit fees. Even if there are benefits from mandatory auditor rotation, new auditors have to take so much time to understand the business of the companies, which leads to the audit ineffectiveness or audit failure. According to the External Audit Law in Korea, we have had other significant reforms enhancing audit quality such as audit firm partner rotation. Mandatory audit firm rotation is not the only one that enhances audit quality. Providing the "fresh look" viewpoint could be achieved through the initiative of audit committee rather than the requirements of law. For the time being, therefore, structuring the environment where the audit committees fulfill their role spontaneously is the first thing to ensure auditor independence and audit quality. Mandatory audit firm rotation requirement needs to be revised or abolished.

Keywords

  • Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation
  • Audit Quality
  • Auditor Independence

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